Personalized toy figure and method for creating the toy figure from a digital image

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to personalized toy figures and methods of making personalized figures using a digital image.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A toy figure comprising:
 one or more predominantly flat first portions, each first portion comprising:
 a first layer comprising an image receptive material rendered with a first digital image; 
 a second layer comprising an adhesive material; and 
 a third layer attached to the first layer by the second layer; 
   one or more second portions, each second portion comprising:
 at least one connecting groove to engage with at least one of the one or more first portions to hold the at least one of the one or more first portions in a desired position in three-dimensional space relative to the second portion; and 
 a three-dimensional base part, wherein the three-dimensional base part comprises at least one of: shoes, feet, an animal, part of an animal, a vehicle, or a plant base. 
   
     
     
         2 . The toy figure as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the third layer comprises the image receptive material rendered with a second digital image. 
     
     
         3 . The toy figure as recited in  claim 2 , wherein the one or more first portions are each formed with a single sheet of the image receptive material that is folded along a fold line to form the first layer and the third layer of the one or more first portions from the single sheet. 
     
     
         4 . The toy figure as recited in  claim 2 , wherein the second digital image is a mirror image of the first digital image. 
     
     
         5 . The toy figure as recited in  claim 3 , wherein one of the first portions forms a one-part flat toy figure. 
     
     
         6 . The toy figure as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the at least one connecting groove comprises a first member and a second member each having an opposing surface for engaging, through friction or tension, at least one of the one or more first portions. 
     
     
         7 . The toy figure as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the at least one connecting groove comprises a mating section to removably engage with the three-dimensional base part. 
     
     
         8 . The toy figure as recited in  claim 7 , wherein the mating section comprises a recess to engage a stud to removably engage the at least one connecting groove to the three-dimensional base part. 
     
     
         9 . The toy figure as recited in  claim 7 , wherein the mating section includes a ferromagnetic element within the at least one connecting groove, to form a connection with a magnet in a separate part. 
     
     
         10 . The toy figure as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the image receptive material includes at least one of: Zink stickers, Zink paper, instant film paper, thermal printer paper, plain paper, sticker paper, vinyl sticker paper, label paper, glossy paper, a laminate covering, and photo paper. 
     
     
         11 . The toy figure of  claim 1 , wherein the digital image includes a digitized photo of a hand drawn illustration and a digital photograph of a face. 
     
     
         12 . A method of producing a toy figure comprising:
 imprinting a digital image on a top surface of the image receptive material, the image receptive material having adhesive covered by a peelable paper back on a bottom surface   removing the peelable paper back from the bottom surface to expose the adhesive;   manually folding the image receptive material containing the digital image along a fold line that divides the image receptive material into two sections, a first layer and a second layer;   mutually engaging the exposed adhesive on the bottom surface of the first layer and the second layer to form a two-sided first portion; and   pairing the first portion with a second portion comprising:
 at least one connecting groove configured to engage with the first portion to hold the first portion in a desired position in three-dimensional space relative to the second portion; and 
 a three-dimensional base part, wherein the three-dimensional base part comprises at least one of: shoes, feet, an animal, an animal part, a vehicle, or a plant base that is configured to be perceived by a user as a visual extension of the digital image. 
   
     
     
         13 . The method as recited in  claim 12 , wherein imprinting the digital image on the top surface of the image receptive material includes imprinting the digital image on the image receptive material on one side of the fold line and imprinting a mirror outline image of the digital image on the image receptive material on another side of the fold line such that when the image receptive material is folded along the fold line, the two images align and overlap. 
     
     
         14 . The method as recited in  claim 12  wherein the connecting groove includes two opposing surfaces configured to receive and engage the first portion between the two opposing surfaces. 
     
     
         15 . The method as recited in  claim 13  further comprising:
 scaling the digital image to a pre-determined size; 
 creating with a processing device a mirror outline image of the digital image; and 
 printing the digital image and the mirror outline image on separate sides of the fold line such that the outlines of the two images align and overlap when the adhesive layer is exposed, and the image receptive material is folded along the fold line to form the first portion. 
 
     
     
         16 . The method as recited in  claim 15 , further comprising:
 integrating a recess in the connecting groove configured to interlock via friction with a stud of diameter 4.8 mm; and   
     
     
         17 . The method as recited in  claim 12  wherein the digital image includes at least one of: a digitized drawing, a digitized illustration, or a digital photograph. 
     
     
         18 . The method as recited in  claim 12  further comprising:
 modifying the digital image based on one or more source digital images; and 
 storing the digital image in response to the modification. 
 
     
     
         19 . The method as recited in  claim 12 , wherein imprinting the digital image comprises printing the digital image with a printing device that comprises at least one of: a Zink printer, a Zink sticker printer, an instant camera, a Zink camera, a thermal printer, a laser printer, an ink jet printer, and a dot-matrix printer. 
     
     
         20 . A part to hold a toy figure, the part comprising:
 a recess on a bottom side configured to interlock with and cover the top of a cylindrical stud of diameter 4.8 mm; and   a thin, flat blade protruding lengthwise from a top side, the blade less than 75 mm long and less than 10 mm wide;   wherein the bottom side of the part has a footprint less than or equal to 9.5 mm long and 9.5 mm wide.   
     
     
         21 . The part as recited in  claim 20 , wherein the thin, flat blade has been adhered between the first and third layers of the toy figure as recited in  claim 3   
     
     
         22 . The toy figure of  claim 1 , wherein the digital image includes a digitized photo of a hand drawn illustration or a digital photograph of a face.